During this busy season when we create so much extra wasteful “stuff,” thanks to Joel Ostroff and team at our Solid Waste Department who provide a convenient process to recycle.

Also, we honor the Iotla dropoff with a 5-star rating. The employees are always outside to help answer questions and unload recyclables. The peppy little lady there, Linda, has sparkled up the “reception area” with colorful seasonal decorations (rescued from throwaways, of course) and always greets the customer with “let me help you,” taking a box of recyclables to deposit in the proper container.

Bingo!! Most North Carolinians caught on that Barak Obama’s economic failures are not so much ineptness but rather his agenda. The more people collecting unemployment insurance, receiving welfare checks and using food stamps the more dependency on government. This is the Obama administration’s dream ... big government, big spending, and higher taxes to pay for it all.

Recently I saw an election bumper sticker that said “Osama Dead; Auto Industry Alive” and of course “Vote for Obama,” North Carolinians know that Osama Bin Laden is dead but al-Qaida is not. This was proven when al-Qaida attacked the U.S. in Benghazi, Libya where four Americans, including a U.S. Ambassador, were murdered by al-Qaida militants. For days and weeks Obama and high members of his administration tried to tell us the attack was not a planned al-Qaida attack but was spontaneous because of an anti-Islam video. We now know the truth ... al-Qaida is alive and well.

Before we heap too many accolades upon either major party for their performance during the election just past it would do us all a world of good to reflect upon what our leaders accomplished these past four years.

It was reported by The Washington Post earlier this year (and repeated in The Week Magazine in October) that since 2007, 73 members of Congress sponsored bills that benefited themselves or their families. Former Democratic Rep. Dennis Cardoza helped get tax breaks for racehorse owners, and then bought seven horses himself. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) co-sponsored a natural gas bill even as Exxon-Mobil negotiated for his wife's shares in two gas companies. This was apparently legal under rules Congress wrote for itself. Ethics rules are supposed to make things transparent and not require the public or the media to go digging around to make the connections.

You can usually tell a lot about a politician's character by the way he runs his campaign.

Unfortunately, Sen. James Davis' campaign speaks volumes. One might have hoped our incumbent senator in Raleigh would have set the bar a little higher when it comes to discretion and decency in “politikin’” but I guess not. He is not alone, of course, among politicians who believe getting votes is more important than gaining respect. The incendiary mailings, the robo-calls and the television ads reflect a man with a loose association with the truth and a scorchedearth approach to campaigning many of us are finding tiresome and repugnant. Apparently, Sen. Davis' handlers (and millionaire patron) believe this is the only way to return him to Raleigh. Sadly, they may be right. But at what personal cost?